Naturally, we football fans don't take too well to change, which explains why we scoff every time a game pauses for two minutes while officials deliberate with VAR, and why we're determined to find the next Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. We want things to be the way we know them to be.
Players Who Were Caught Age-Cheating
We are looking for the same type of player rivalry, in which two players, like Ronaldo and Messi did for so long, compete ferociously in the same league in the same country and are the best player for each of their clubs that also happen to be two of the biggest teams in the same nation, and in the world. We do not want two defenders filling these vacancies, neither do we want them to be defensive midfielders and certainly not goalkeepers. They must be forwards who score goals. Only then is it fun.
You might not be surprised to find that I don't think football will have another rivalry like theirs in my lifetime, and for a host of reasons probably too obvious to list. And if we do, it will be because we're so desperate for it that it becomes something we project onto players who know nothing about it. While it is difficult to imagine a duel as entertaining, there are two players who could carry the torch, and I don't mean to shock you, but their names are Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
Do I see them winning 11 Ballons d'Or between themselves? No, but they each have frighteningly impressive goalscoring statistics that suggest that Ronaldo and Messi will not be leaving this sport completely untouchable. We might not want to believe that their records are surmountable, but the uncomfortable truth is that they are. I wasn't sure I would ever see a player as good as Zinedine Zidane until I saw Andres Iniesta, I never dreamed of another Oliver Kahn until Manuel Neuer. My point is that things change.
Click through the gallery below to see the leading goalscorers in Europe's top five leagues so far in this campaign:
I use the word "uncomfortable" not negatively, but rather because Ronaldo and Messi's feats being under threat goes against everything I thought I knew. Seeing two players each score 40 goals a season for a decade straight was information I never had to process before, and thus I imagined it would never occur again, but it already looks like something that actually could happen. Haaland, 20, scored four goals in Borussia Dortmund's 5-2 over Hertha Berlin this past weekend, taking his overall tally for BVB to 31 goals in 30 matches, and taking me down a rabbit hole.
Not only has he already scored more goals for Dortmund than he did for both Molde and FB Salzburg, but he has also now struck three times or more in a single game on eight occasions at club level. In addition, after 123 senior club appearances, he has scored 80 goals in 6 975 minutes, meaning that he finds the back of the net every 87.1 minutes on average. While it is still early days in Haaland's career, and while things might still balance out, Ronaldo scores every 107.8 minutes, and Messi every 94.1 minutes in comparison.
Mbappe, who turns 22 in December, has registered 126 goals in 13 617 minutes from 193 club games, which works out to an average of a strike every 108 minutes. While that is staggering, the France star, who has more responsibility to create than Haaland, has also assisted 74 strikes. Overall, this means that Mbappe plays a hand in a goal every 66 minutes. I understand there is nuance and that there are more factors to consider than simply comparing their productivity directly, but these numbers do suggest that Mbappe and Haaland are on a path to greatness.
Arguably more importantly than the early promise they've shown with their abilities, however, is their incredibly professional and mature attitudes. I don't claim to know more than any top-level coach out there, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that talent will only get you so far and that what ultimately determines a player's legacy is his personality, which I use as an umbrella term for things such as desire and work ethic. Only a few have skated by on skill alone, with Ronaldinho being an obvious example.
So far, both Mbappe and Haaland appear not only unbothered by pressure, but as if they absolutely thrive under it, and, not to exclude Messi from this narrative entirely, both are eerily similar to Ronaldo in that regard. They have both referred to him as their idol, and it shows almost every time they set foot on to a pitch. Their hunger for goals, their remarkable confidence on the field and in interviews, their celebrations, all of it. They're trying to be him by reading from his guidebook, and it's working.
Now, do I see Mbappe and Haaland retiring one day with bigger legacies than Ronaldo and Messi? I'm not sure making that prediction now is sensible, but perhaps we should acknowledge that the "new Ronaldo" and "new Messi" everyone is desperately looking for will not come in the form of a pacey Portuguese winger and a silky, left-footed Argentine attacking midfielder, but have rather come in the form of a strong-willed Frenchman with African parents and a towering Norwegian who was born in Leeds.
Right now, there are no two young players on the same level as Mbappe and Haaland, and that is because they're different. They are generational talents kids growing up today will watch with the same enthusiasm and excitement that you and I had watching Ronaldo and Messi over the past 16 years. Yes, we shouldn't compare them to anyone, especially not two of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen, but that is how good they already are.
I can't wait to watch them for the next 15 years. We're about to be spoilt once again.
